Re: automake/44: conditional redefinitions (Was: Re: Automake 1.6.3 issue)

[Akim Demaille]

| This also works for things like
| 
|   foo = mumble
|   foo = blurgle
| 
| which would be interpreted as
| 
|   foo = blurgle
|   if FALSE
|     foo = mumble
|   endif

I've always thought this is wrong.  I still think we should not
support such ``feature'', which is a form of laxism to me, comparable
to globbing.

Nevertheless, I agree a means to install defaults would be most
welcome.

I suggest introducing

        foo ?= bar

Which is always valid, but with a clear semantics.

Also, maybe we want to introduce something like (hold you breath):

        ifndef foo
        foo = bar
        endif